Ange Postecoglou came out swinging less than 24 hours after Tottenham Hotspur’s defeat to Liverpool by insisting he doesn’t care about criticism coming from people 'a million miles away'. Spurs saw their hopes of reaching the Carabao Cup final end at Anfield on Thursday night.

Despite holding a 1-0 lead from the first-leg, Tottenham were comfortably swept aside by the Reds, who secured their return to Wembley with a 4-0 win [4-1 on aggregate]. Cody Gakpo, Mohamed Salah, Dominik Szoboszlai and Virgil van Dijk were all on target for Arne Slot’s side.

Tottenham’s performance at Anfield came in for criticism after the game with Jamie Redknapp describing it as 'horrendous'. Also speaking on Sky Sports, Jamie Carragher was even more damning by claiming that League Two Accrington Stanley caused Liverpool more problems in the FA Cup last month.

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Responding to the criticism on Friday, Postecoglou said: “I get the pile-on at the moment, it’s really easy for people to stick their boots in and question the players and all that kind of stuff.

“That’s not something I question. We were disappointed that last night didn’t go the way we wanted and that we didn’t perform at the levels we wanted. That doesn’t define this group of players by any stretch in my eyes. We’ll go out there on Sunday and put in more of a performance that reflects where we’re at.”

Before he added: “Obviously making a semi-final is an absolute disaster just because we didn’t play well last night. I assume not making the semi-final would have put us in a better place. That’s the way people are seeing us at the moment. We’re an easy mark.

“When we have a disappointing night, like we did last night, it gives an opportunity for everyone to go as hard as they can. That’s fine. There’s only one way to change that, that’s with us. Just getting back out there and playing the football I know we can and getting a result on Sunday.”

Tottenham return to action against Aston Villa in the FA Cup on Sunday, and when asked if he uses the criticism for extra motivation, Postecoglou said: “No, because I don’t know which people I’m meant to be proving wrong.

“It’s irrelevant to me what other people’s opinions are. People are on the TV and the radio and in the newspapers to give opinions, and I respect that. They’re allowed to do that, but I don’t have any obligation to listen to any of it.

“To get fuelled by the comments of people I’ve never even met, I don’t know how you live your life, but I certainly don’t live my life that way. That’s with all respect that they’re there to give an opinion.

“It’s not like I want to be successful here so I can go to these people and say to them, ‘Oh, look, you were wrong.’ I don’t even know them. Why would I care where they think we’re at? They’re a million miles away from us, but they’re allowed to have their opinion.”